II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4008 

To authorize workforce development innovation grants for the implementation, 

expansion, and evaluation of evidence-based workforce programs, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 20, 2024 

Mr. BENNET introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To authorize workforce development innovation grants for 

the implementation, expansion, and evaluation of evidence-based workforce programs, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Better Jobs through 

5 Evidence and Innovation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EVALUATIONS AND RESEARCH. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 169 of the Workforce In8 novation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3224) is amend9 ed— 


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1 (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub2 section (d); and 

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(c) WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT INNOVATION

6 FUND.— 

7 ‘‘(1) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may, 

9 on a competitive basis and in accordance with 

10 subparagraph (B), award workforce develop11 ment innovation grants described in subpara12 graph (C) to eligible entities to enable such en13 tities to— 

14 ‘‘(i) establish, implement, replicate, or 

15 take to scale evidence-based, field-initiated 

16 innovation programs or services for im17 proving the design and delivery of employ18 ment and training services that generate 

19 demonstrated long-term improvements in— 

20 ‘‘(I) the performance or impact 

21 of the workforce development system; 

22 ‘‘(II) earnings and employment 

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1 ment) and earnings for employers; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(III) the cost-effectiveness of 

4 such innovation programs or services, 

5 particularly for participants and com6 munities not sufficiently served by ex7 isting models such as participants and 

8 communities in rural areas; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) rigorously evaluate, through a 

10 partnership with a third-party research or11 ganization or a third-party researcher, 

12 such innovation programs or services for 

13 effectiveness in achieving any dem14 onstrated long-term improvements in an 

15 outcome described in subclause (I), (II), or 

16 (III) of clause (i). 

17 ‘‘(B) GRANT AWARDS.— 

18 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary— 

19 ‘‘(I) shall award grants under 

20 subparagraph (A) on the basis of po21 tential achievements of the innovation 

22 program or service proposed by the el23 igible entity with respect to dem24 onstrated, long-term improvements in 

25 an outcome described in subclause (I), 


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1 (II), or (III) of subparagraph (A)(i); 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(II) may award under subpara4 graph (A) different types of grants 

5 described under subparagraph (C) to 

6 an eligible entity for separate innova7 tion programs or services that meet 

8 the relevant criteria for such different 

9 types of grants. 

10 ‘‘(ii) DURATION OF AWARD.—A grant 

11 awarded under subparagraph (A) shall be 

12 awarded for a period determined appro13 priate by the Secretary. 

14 ‘‘(C) DESCRIPTION OF GRANTS.—The 

15 grants described in subparagraph (A) shall, to 

16 the extent feasible, include— 

17 ‘‘(i) early-phase grants for an innova18 tion program or service supported by any 

19 level of evidence described in clause (i), 

20 (ii), or (iii) of subparagraph (D), for the 

21 purposes of funding the development, im22 plementation, and evaluation of such pro23 gram or service; 

24 ‘‘(ii) mid-phase grants for an innova25 tion program or service supported by a 


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1 moderate level of evidence or a high level 

2 of evidence (as described in clause (ii) or 

3 (iii) of subparagraph (D), respectively) for 

4 the purposes of funding the operation, ex5 pansion, and continued evaluation of such 

6 innovation program or service at a single 

7 site; and 

8 ‘‘(iii) expansion grants for an innova9 tion program or service supported by a 

10 high level of evidence, as described in sub11 paragraph (D)(iii), for the purposes of— 

12 ‘‘(I) funding the operation of 

13 such innovation program or service at 

14 a single site; 

15 ‘‘(II) expansion or such innova16 tion program or service to another 

17 site; and 

18 ‘‘(III) implementation of a multi19 site evaluation of such innovation pro20 gram or service. 

21 ‘‘(D) LEVEL OF EVIDENCE STANDARDS.— 

22 The levels of evidence described in this subpara23 graph are the following: 

24 ‘‘(i) LOW LEVEL OF EVIDENCE.—An 

25 innovation program or service is supported 


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1 by a low level of evidence if such program 

2 or service has demonstrated, through a 

3 reasonable hypothesis and credible research 

4 findings (such as a correlational study with 

5 statistical controls for selection bias), de6 scriptive research (such as a case study), 

7 or evidence review and needs assessment, 

8 the— 

9 ‘‘(I) ability to achieve positive ef10 fects on earnings and employment 

11 outcomes for jobseekers (including in12 dividuals with barriers to employ13 ment) and earnings for employers; or 

14 ‘‘(II) potential to achieve such ef15 fect on such outcomes. 

16 ‘‘(ii) MODERATE LEVEL OF EVI17 DENCE.—An innovation program or service 

18 is supported by a moderate level of evi19 dence if such program or service has dem20 onstrated the ability to achieve sizable, but 

21 not yet conclusive, positive effects on earn22 ings and employment outcomes for job23 seekers (including individuals with barriers 

24 to employment) and earnings for employ25 ers, through— 


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1 ‘‘(I) a well-designed and well-im2 plemented experimental study of such 

3 program or service, such as a random4 ized controlled trial; or 

5 ‘‘(II) a rigorous quasi-experi6 mental study of such program or serv7 ice capable of drawing causal conclu8 sions about the effectiveness of such 

9 program or service. 

10 ‘‘(iii) HIGH LEVEL OF EVIDENCE.— 

11 An innovation program or service is sup12 ported by a high level of evidence if such 

13 program or service has demonstrated, 

14 through replication of studies, the ability 

15 to achieve a substantial and statistically16 significant, positive impact on earnings 

17 and employment outcomes for jobseekers 

18 (including individuals with barriers to em19 ployment) and earnings for employers, 

20 through 2 or more well-designed and well21 implemented experimental studies of such 

22 program or service conducted— 

23 ‘‘(I) at different implementation 

24 sites; or 


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1 ‘‘(II) through large, multi-site, 

2 randomized controlled trials. 

3 ‘‘(2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND EVALUATION

4 RESEARCH.—Of the funds made available to carry 

5 out this subsection for a fiscal year, the Secretary 

6 shall reserve not more than 10 percent of the funds 

7 to— 

8 ‘‘(A) provide technical assistance to eligible 

9 entities, which may include preapplication work10 shops, web-based seminars, support for con11 ducting feasibility studies and other planning 

12 activities, assistance with methods and require13 ments for purposes of evaluation research under 

14 subparagraph (D), and support for improving 

15 grant implementation and the quality and effec16 tiveness of activities and services funded by 

17 grants awarded under subparagraph (A), in18 cluding the use of administrative data and in19 formation to improve outcomes for participants; 

20 ‘‘(B) disseminate information on low-, 

21 moderate-, and high-evidence-based practices; 

22 ‘‘(C) fund staffing and other costs related 

23 to such activities; and 


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1 ‘‘(D) conduct evaluation research regard2 ing activities or services funded by grants 

3 awarded under subparagraph (A). 

4 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

5 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligi6 ble entity’ means an entity that is any of the 

7 following: 

8 ‘‘(i) A State workforce development 

9 board established under section 101 (29 

10 U.S.C. 3111). 

11 ‘‘(ii) A local workforce development 

12 board established under section 107 (29 

13 U.S.C. 3122). 

14 ‘‘(iii) An Indian tribe, tribal organiza15 tion, Alaska Native entity, Indian-con16 trolled organization serving Indians, or Na17 tive Hawaiian organization that is eligible 

18 to receive an award under section 166 (29 

19 U.S.C. 3221). 

20 ‘‘(iv) An institution of higher edu21 cation (as defined in section 101 of the 

22 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

23 1001)). 

24 ‘‘(v) A State workforce agency. 

25 ‘‘(vi) An organization— 


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1 ‘‘(I) that— 

2 ‘‘(aa) is a community-based 

3 organization, a nonprofit organi4 zation, or a nongovernment orga5 nization; and 

6 ‘‘(bb) serves an underserved 

7 population; or 

8 ‘‘(II) that is a national or re9 gional organization that intends to 

10 use funds awarded under this Act to 

11 make direct grants to an organization 

12 described in subclause (I). 

13 ‘‘(vii) A consortium of any entities de14 scribed in clause (i) through (vi). 

15 ‘‘(B) FIELD-INITIATED.—The term ‘field16 initiated’, with respect to a program or service, 

17 means a program or service in which the ele18 ments of the program or service have been de19 veloped by practitioners or researchers in the 

20 policy area. 

21 ‘‘(C) INNOVATION PROGRAM OR SERV22 ICE.—The term ‘innovation program or service’ 

23 means a program or service designed to dem24 onstrate innovative and cost-effective ways to 


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1 augment and improve employment and training 

2 services. 

3 ‘‘(D) WELL-DESIGNED AND WELL-IMPLE4 MENTED EXPERIMENTAL STUDY.—The term 

5 ‘well-designed and well-implemented experi6 mental study’ means a study that— 

7 ‘‘(i) is replicable; 

8 ‘‘(ii) uses programmatic and control 

9 groups that are representative of the type 

10 of population served by the program or 

11 service that is subject to the study, includ12 ing by avoiding over-selection of partici13 pants who are highly skilled prior to par14 ticipation for such programmatic group; 

15 ‘‘(iii) uses controls for aggregate 

16 shifts that might affect baseline numbers; 

17 ‘‘(iv) does not have problems with at18 trition of participants from the study; and 

19 ‘‘(v) is conducted in a manner that is 

20 consistent with applicable evaluation, data, 

21 and privacy standards and practices de22 scribed in— 

23 ‘‘(I) the guidelines of the Office 

24 of Management and Budget entitled 

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1 mizing the Quality, Objectivity, Util2 ity, and Integrity of Information Dis3 seminated by Federal Agencies’ (67 

4 Fed. Reg. 8452 (February 22, 2002)) 

5 (or successor guidelines); and 

6 ‘‘(II) the Foundations for Evi7 dence-Based Policymaking Act of 

8 2018 (Public Law 115–435; 132 Stat. 

9 5529) and the amendments made by 

10 that Act. 

11 ‘‘(4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

12 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

13 this subsection, such sums as may be necessary for 

14 each of the fiscal years 2025 through 2029.’’. 

15 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

16 132(a)(2)(A) of the Workforce Innovation and Oppor17 tunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3172(a)(2)(A)) is amended by strik18 ing ‘‘169(c)’’ and inserting ‘‘169(d)’’. 

Æ 


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